


Rise

by HarleyJQuin



Series: Sterek Bingo 2020 [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Sterek Bingo, Sterek Bingo 2020, Stiles Stilinski Leaves Beacon Hills, Stiles Stilinski Leaves the Pack, sbbaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24090511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarleyJQuin/pseuds/HarleyJQuin
Summary: Stress baking is a thing.
Relationships: Chris Argent/Peter Hale, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Sterek Bingo 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1727686
Comments: 58
Kudos: 1097





	Rise

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: Continuation of sorts of Elastic Heart. It starts after Derek and Stiles land in New York.
> 
> Sterek Bingo 2020  
> Square: Baking

“So, you lived here with Laura?” Stiles asked cautiously.

Derek shook his head. He explained, “No, she was paranoid that the hunters would track us down so the apartment sat empty while we stayed in illegal sublets and bedsits.”

Stiles frowned, “That sounds… unnecessary.”

Peter moved into the living room and he asked, “What makes you say that Stiles.”

Stiles shrugged, “You know I looked into the fire, I was curious. Part of that was doing background checks, trying to find bolt holes, etc. According to all the files I looked into the Hale family owned no property on the eastern seaboard. All of the property investments were west coast based. Mostly around the Pacific Northwest but a fair amount in Montana and Wyoming. So this place is either owned by a cleverly developed shell company or someone who’s name is not connected to the Hales.”

Peter smirked, “You always were the clever one, Stiles.”

Derek asked, “When did you do all that?”

Stiles shrugged as he leaned back into the sofa, “About a year before you came home. I can’t remember what got me started but I do remember knowing in my bones it wasn’t an accident and I thought if I could find proof it would help dad. My point is, if I couldn’t find it with the resources I had access to, the Argents sure as shit wouldn’t be able to. So what was the point of living in sublets and bedsits if you had this here.”

Derek glanced over at Peter who was leaving the room. “I don’t know,” He said quietly, “She was pretty determined that we should live under the radar, it took me a year to convince her to let me go to Columbia.”

Stiles glanced toward the door Peter had left though and he asked quietly, “You didn’t want to leave Peter behind did you?”

Derek looked down at his clasped hands, and he shook his head and he confirmed, “No. I had no say though, she was determined to run.”

Stiles contemplated the best way to ask his next question, he decided blunt was best so he asked, “Did she know about Kate? That she seduced and raped you?”

Derek reared back scrambling to get off the sofa but faster than should have been possible Stiles reached out and grabbed him by the wrist halting his progress.

“Derek,” Stiles said quietly, “You were fifteen, she was in her thirties. It. Was. Rape.” He spoke fast to stop the argument he could see in Derek’s face, “If what I found is correct, she was dosing you with yellow wolfsbane to make you more malleable. A good alpha would have seen your behavior change and they would have checked to see what was going on. A good alpha wouldn’t have sent your only confidant away on pointless meetings and trips, and lastly, a good alpha would have seen how withdrawn you were after the fire and would have bloody done something about it!”

In the kitchen Peter was seething, he hadn’t heard any of this. He admitted to himself he hadn’t wanted to. He always thought Laura had been a good alpha for Derek while they were here in New York.

He stormed back into the living room and yanked Derek up off the couch pulling him into a hug. He murmured into his ear, “I am so sorry pup. I knew something was going on but your mother didn’t want to listen.”

Derek huffed out a snort from where he was tucked into Peter’s neck, “She never did, her word was law.” He scent marked his uncle for the first time in years as pack and he whispered, “I’m sorry I didn’t try harder to rescue you.”

Peter shook his head, “As Stiles said, you were fifteen. Your options would have been limited. How about we both accept that mistakes were made and there was nothing we could do to change them.”

They heard Stiles gasp from the sofa. He stood quickly and his parting shot to Peter was a quiet, “Gold suits you,” as he left the room. 

Derek snapped his head up and he grabbed Peter’s face looking at his newly changed eyes.

He asked, “You felt guilt over killing Laura?”

Peter shook his head, “No.” He explained, "I felt guilty about taking an alpha away from you and leaving you as an omega. I thought she had been a good alpha for you.”

Stiles yelled, “Are you done hugging it out? Can someone come and explain why a New York Brownstone has a commercial-grade kitchen?”

Peter chuckled and he headed to the kitchen, he looked back at Derek with a smirk as he snarked, “Yes Derek, do tell, why does a New York Brownstone have a brand new commercial-grade kitchen? This certainly wasn’t here when I went to Columbia.”

Derek blushed as he followed his uncle into the kitchen, he explained, “I stress bake and after one bad experience trying to bake in the loft which had a bigger kitchen than the brownstone used to have, I knew I needed to upgrade before we moved here. I organized the renovations after Mexico.”

Peter asked, “So what else has changed?”

Derek smirked, it was a good look on him, he asked, “You remember how you wished there was a bigger library?”

Peter nodded slowly, “I wanted a library for all the books in the vault that could be warded with every protection ward known to man.”

Derek nodded slowly, “You mean you haven’t found it yet?”

Peter frowned, “I found the library on the third floor, it didn’t look any different.”

Derek led them to the third-floor library, he asked Peter, “Do you remember what else is on this level?”

Peter shook his head, he thought about it and he said, “Wasn’t it just more guest bedrooms? Maybe an office or two?”

Derek nodded, “It was,” He walked to one of the plain-looking bookshelves on the opposite side of the room, he pushed what looked like a random book before he pulled on the edge of the shelf. As he gestured to the new room hidden behind the shelf he explained, “I took out two of the guest rooms on this level and put in a hidden library. This contains all of the books that were in the vault under the school and the books hidden in the various other vaults around the country. I spent a few months after Mexico traveling around collecting anything of use from the various hideaways.”

Stiles asked, “You weren’t with Braeden? Nevermind, of course you weren’t with Braeden, fucking Scott.” He looked up when he heard both Peter and Derek say “Huh?” He explained, “Scott was the one to tell me you were road tripping with Braeden. That you wouldn’t be back. He’s a fucking liar who lies.”

Derek just shook his head, he accepted a long time ago that Scott was a manipulative asshole. “Right, So who’s hungry?” He asked before he headed down to test out the new kitchen.

-x-

A month after they moved in the Hale’s lawyer turned up on the doorstep. Ralph Vilkas was ruthless and he had been working for the Hales for over 20 years. The only reason he hadn’t pushed with the fire investigation is that Laura had expressly forbidden it.

Peter welcomed him into the brownstone. “Ralph, what brings you to our doorstep.”

Ralph smiled and he handed a manilla folder to Stiles. “Proof that there are no charges pending in the state of California, that the coroner has declared the death of Donovan Donati an accident.”

Stiles sat heavily on the sofa as he paged through all the paperwork in the folder. He asked, “What about the wrench that was provided as evidence of murder?”

Ralph leaned over and he paged through the paperwork until he found a file near the bottom, “As you can see from this report it was tested and the blood on the wrench was found to not be a match to Mr. Donati. The blood type was O+ which matched your type but without a sample from you they weren’t able to say for sure and they did not have reason enough to request a warrant for a blood sample as you were an obvious victim.”

Stiles closed the folder and leaned into Derek who had sat beside him, he asked, “So what happens now?”

Ralph shrugged, “Nothing, you live your life knowing you don't have the Sword of Damocles hanging over your head. You can either stay here and go to school like you have been planning or you can return to Beacon Hills without the threat of arrest.”

He stood to leave and he turned to Stiles, “I have told anyone that asked that I don’t know where you are, that I was hired by the Hales as a favor to you in absentia. I have feelers out in Beacon Hills so if I hear anything else I will contact you all for instructions.”

Peter shook his hand as he escorted Ralph to the door. “Thanks, Ralph. I will contact you next week about getting the Hale land in Beacon Hills sorted and the permits for the rebuild started.”

Ralph nodded and he waved as he climbed into the car that was waiting for him at the curb.

Back in the brownstone, Stiles was going through the various forms and reports in the folder, reassuring himself he was free and clear. He saw the evidence receipts for the videos from the various cameras around the school, the cameras that Gerard installed to spy on the pack. Stiles grinned at this thought. He also saw the report that the school had been broken into and the footage had been deleted but that the investigation into the break-in was left too late and no evidence could be found as too many people had been into the security office since the break-in. Part of him was pissed off that the department fixated on him, a kid most of them had watched grow up, being a murderer that they didn’t try to find evidence to clear him.

Derek smelt his scent shift to one of sorrow and he pulled the folder out of his hands and pulled Stiles into his lap and just held him, he quietly whispered, “You’re safe, we will protect you, and more importantly, we will help you bury the bodies.” He smiled when he felt Stiles quietly laughing.

-x-

Lydia turned up not long after the Christmas break with Danny. They both wanted out of Beacon Hills and away from the McCall pack. Lydia had blocked Scott’s number when he wouldn’t stop trying to call. He also kept trying to pull Danny into the pack no matter how many times Danny said no. He had talked it over with his family and they had agreed getting out of town for college would be a good idea. He talked it over with Lydia and while she was set for a full ride at MIT starting as a Junior with a wink she suggested Danny attend Columbia and they disappeared from Beacon Hills as soon as they had finished their exit exams.

Derek talked it over with Stiles then he set them up in the two remaining bedrooms on the third floor, Lydia’s room would be used whenever she was on a break from MIT, and Danny would be attending the new semester with Stiles, Derek, and Peter. 

Over the next few years, their little pack grew again when Jackson and Ethan would fly in for breaks to spend time with the pack. They both eventually accepted Stiles as their human alpha.

Chris and Peter got married after a year with Chris becoming a Hale. He was happy to leave the Argent name behind him. He got a bit of flack from the hunting community until he reminded them just what the Argent name has done in the last decade, pack annihilations, killing innocent creatures for the crime of being a creature, and torturing human children to bait alphas into going rogue. Stiles used his contacts that he had met over the years of hanging out at the Sheriff’s station to help Argent Arms gain more legitimate clients in the various police departments around the country and even the FBI were in talks with Chris to set up a contract for some of their sniper teams.

Danny begged for a home gym to be installed in the basement after going through his first exam season with Derek’s epic level stress baking, there was almost always something baking in the oven when Derek was cramming. He claimed the smell of the baking calmed him down enough to study effectively. Danny swore that he gained 30lbs eating all the cupcakes and cookies. Peter just chuckled but he yelled that he was on it as he went to his office to look into getting the gym installed.

Stiles and Derek got close over the years eventually realizing that they had been dating, with many nights out together when they needed a break from studying. It seemed that everyone else had known but had decided to leave them to it as letting it develop slowly seemed to be the best thing for both of them. 

By the end of their second year in New York Stiles had moved into the master suite of the brownstone with Derek. They turned his old bedroom into an office for studying and the occasional contract work he was doing in IT.

-x-

“Peter,” Derek called out as he arrived home.

Peter came down to the main level from his office. He was working on his latest designs for a new conference center in Philadelphia. “What can I do for you, Derek?”

Derek pulled a small box out of his pocket and he looked up shyly, he asked, “I need the brownstone tonight. Can you let the others know?”

Peter made uncharacteristic grabby hands and he asked, “Can I see?”

Derek handed over the box and Peter smiled at the unusual but perfect ring set inside. He looked up and he raised an eyebrow in question.

Derek smiled, “I have been waiting for them to be ready for ages. They are custom made matte black titanium with an inlaid twisted cable finished off with the Hale Triskele instead of a gem.”

Peter closed the box and he handed it back. “I will organize for the rest of the pack to join me for dinner in town followed by a few hours at a club. Will that be enough time?”

Derek nodded, “Thanks, Peter. Wish me luck.”

Peter hugged him and he murmured, “You won’t need it, that man is so into you, just as you are into him. Go do what you need to do.”

Derek moved into the kitchen to get baking, he only had a few hours to prepare while Stiles was in his final exam. Peter managed to corral everyone to meet in a popular restaurant across town without warning Stiles.

Derek spent the next few hours baking up a storm and thankful for the size of the kitchen so he could get several batches of Stiles' favorite red velvet cupcakes cooking. He knew that when Stiles came home he would first race upstairs for a shower to wash off the exam stress then he would head down to see what was baking. 

While Stiles was in the shower he spent time setting the cupcakes up on the main dining table in the shape of a heart. He knew it was cheesy but he also knew that Stiles would love it. He had iced them all in bright red buttercream and then using a piping bag he piped ‘Marry Me?’ on the cupcakes in the middle of the heart. 

He then stood and waited with the box burning a hole in his pocket for Stiles to come downstairs. 

“Der? What's up? Did your exam go ok?” Stiles asked when he saw Derek just standing there nervously in front of the table.

Derek smiled and he moved to the side. When Stiles moved forward to check out the cupcakes Derek dropped to one knee beside him with the box in his hand.

Stiles breathing hitched and he turned with tears in his eyes and looked at Derek.

Derek just looked at him with a raised eyebrow as if to say ‘well?’

Stiles leaped at him and kissed him all over his face as he said yes over and over again.

Derek took a photo of both their hands wearing the rings and sent it off to Peter before Stiles dragged him up to their bedroom.

The uncharacteristic yell from Peter let the pack know that Stiles had said yes.


End file.
